On The Block With Empress Simone

Listen, normally when we do interviews for On The Block we’re not angry at the authors we interview. But we were livid when we found out that Empress Simone was discriminating against men.

Yes, you read it right! We felt that doing a giveaway catering to only women was a tad bit extreme so we had that annoying AFLAC character call her up and do it what it do, as Ray Charles would have said. However, we found ourselves becoming a bit disappointed having been blinded by the fact that this mofo could only yell out the word AFLAC.

So, we decided to call her and ask her why she felt that men were undeserving of wigs when we have worn them for years? Yes, we feel that the manliest among men wear wigs such as the great emperors of Egypt have done and so forth down to General George Washington who we found out wanted more than labor from his female servants. You all know what I’m saying…the nappy crappy from his female slaves on a few occasions.

Anyway, after having a conversation with the Empress we would like to publicly apologize and give a strong salute to Empress Simone. And without further adieu we bring you, Empress Simone.

iURBAN.ORG: Where are you from, Venus or Mars?

Empress Simone: I am definitely from Venus aka as the Bronx. I am a proud New York City resident who has lived here for most of my life although I did live a year in Atlanta, Georgia as a little girl with my grandmother.

Did your environment influence your writing style? For example, I used to kill Mockingbirds with Harper Lee but he never gave me credit the title of his book. How did your environment influence your current book?

I’d say my environment influenced my writing style because I drew on the experiences of people in the environment for inspiration in certain scenes from my current novel.

Here’s an offhanded question, but do you think men should wear wigs, and would you date a man who wears a wig preferably to wearing a hat?

LOL! It depends on what it looks like. As long as it doesn’t look like Donald Trump’s. Other than that, I’m okay with it.

What author most influenced you besides yourself in addition to the strange voices calling out to you inside your head? LOL!

Voices…hmm. LOL! I’ll pass on that one. Therefore, I am going to say, Nikki Turner. I love Nikki Turner. I even did a class project on Nikki Turner in 2008 saying that if I ever published I would want to draw from her writing and style.

What motivates you to write besides your fans sending you letters that they’ll kill you if you don’t deliver by a said date?

LOL! My fans aren’t like that. They’re very loving. In fact, it’s weird. I can just be sitting down and certain ways to begin paragraphs or story lines jump in my head and I have to run and grab a notebook or my laptop. Also, coffee and my youngest son motivates me as well. My son likes to write on fan fiction, Watpad and in Google+ communities, but he writes anime character inspired stories. So, in other words, if I ask him what he is doing and he says, “writing” then I am like great, me too and I sit down and knock out a couple of pages or chapters.

What makes this book special to you, and for others besides the fact that you are now an official author per say?

This book is special to me because it is easy to relate to if you grew up in the Urban areas, i.e. the projects, ghetto or hood, no matter what you refer to it as, you will find a teen or young adult such as Koi, the young female who is the main character.

What was the biggest challenge you faced with this project besides not killing people for calling you, etcetera at the time you were in your groove?

The biggest challenge I faced was to not make her a drug-dealing young mother, but I did make her a killer and a thief or booster rather. However, she is strong and all about the love of family and friends even though there is a lot of conflict between them.

What is the most valuable lesson you learned that you’d like to pass on to other authors?

The most valuable lesson I learned that I would like to pass on to other authors is that some reviewers and other authors can be cruel in their expression or critique of your work. However, remain diligent and focused in your goals of becoming an author or remaining an author. I know it hurts sometimes in regards to the the way you will be critiqued, but just know that for every bad review you receive there will be three positive and three constructive reviews coming to help you over the hurdle or hurt you may be feeling regarding the bad one.

What’s your immediate future plans? We have plans on walking down the street and bumming for a few burgers in front of Micky D’s. Care to join us?

Sure I would love to join you all. However, my immediate future plans are to finish writing the current project I am working on and I am thinking of sponsoring or creating a-wigs for mom type of giveaway. This giveaway will be for mothers only, whether single or married. I will have a wig made and send it to the person of choice after reading their nominations sent in by their friends of their family. I will not be doing this because it is breast cancer awareness month (to tell the truth it probably wouldn’t happen until December) but because I am going through breast health issues myself and having to undergo certain test i.e. like a biopsy of a suspicious lump and in doing so I just had a lady make me a wig and I feel gorgeous. Due to the stress of my physical health some of my hair has fallen out. Well, the wig maker, AllureFemme Hair, gave me such a discount that I just want to pass it on. However, I wouldn’t be able to put it all together until after I undergo my testing and get my final results.

Which of your books would like to see made into a movie, and who should be the leading actors?

Wow, I had to really sit up for this question. The book I would want to see made into a movie would be this selection, In These Streets: Koi’s Saga. I really don’t know who should be the leading actors, but if possible I would love to have the models on the actual cover portray the characters and my oldest son. He is just so handsome. I also had taken a lot of care in picking out my models for the cover of this book. It is a big deal with me to have creative input in my covers so I personally hand picked these models.

How do you think your book would be received on Mars? And yes, we do believe they exist. Michael Jackson was one of them so you know he isn’t really dead …don’t you?

Hey, I feel like this when people say Michael Jackson and Tupac aren’t dead….white people have Elvis and we have Tupac…allow us our immortal idol(s) who will live on forever. Anyway, back to the question at hand, I feel good about this book and fall short of calling it a teen drama but I believe that parents, especially uncles and dads, will want to keep more of an eye on the females in their family due to its content.

Some authors are extremely explicit in their novels, whether it be sex, violence, and/or language. Is there a limit to how far you will go or what you will put in your novels?

I do have a limit to my sex scenes. I struggle with how much sex to use in a novel so my sex scenes are really hard at times.

Any last words?

I would like to thank you for taking the time out to interview me and allowing me to detail my work and future projects. I really hope everyone enjoys my literary works and please leave your reviews on amazon.com. Also all my published works are in paperback format. For those who love the feel of a book in their hands head over to createspace.com now; they are all reasonably priced. My website is currently being developed, however, please feel free to reach out to me on any of my social media pages.
Lastly, I thank you all for your support of me as an author. It is truly appreciated.

In closing, we would like to thank Empress Simone for dropping by The Urb and clearing up the air about men wearing wigs. If you would like to support her endeavors or read an excerpt or purchase her book please click here.

Author Bio:

Empress Simone is a lifelong resident of the Bronx in New York City. She devotes her time to her family, her education, and her writing. Empress Simone attends DeVry University and majors in Communications/Emerging Media Communications. She currently has a GPA of 3.0.
Empress Simone is also a novice genealogist and loves to spend time researching her ancestors.

About The Author

A hip-hop recording artist, convict, father, and now urban author (Who Am I: The Chronicles of Cain, Caught Slippin, and Explain It To Her Mama), the managing editor of Urban.me and Urban refuge. In the '90s he was the first rapper to appear on the covers Black Beat and Teen Machine magazines, known at MC Cheese he recorded Phenomenal, Third Street, Angel of Death, Dime a Dozen, Come on Everybody.